Kerala BJP in deep trouble after black money case

Kasaragod: As more controversies in the Kodakara black money case surface, Kerala BJP has found itself in deep trouble besides the humiliating electoral defeat in recently completed Kerala state assembly election.

The latest reports suggest that the Kerala police on Sunday has recorded the statement of K Sundara, the namesake candidate against BJP State chief K Surendran. According to reports, Sundara was allegedly threatened by BJP party workers to withdraw his candidature in the State Assembly election that was held in April. The statement was recorded after the Kasaragod district police chief directed the Badiyadukka police to register a case in the matter.

Sundara, a BSP candidate of Manjeswaram constituency in Kasarkode and a namesake of K Surendran, had on March 22 withdraw his nomination papers thereby giving an edge to the BJP chief. Surendran, however, lost the election.

The similarity of the names of the two was considered to have helped Sundara garner 467 votes in the constituency as an independent candidate during the 2016 Assembly polls in which Surendran lost to IUML nominee P B Abdul Razzaq by just 89 votes.

A PTI report quoted police saying that they have recorded the statement of Sundara. According to police, Sundara said he was threatened by the BJP workers to withdraw the nomination papers and was offered money which he accepted later.

The case would be registered based on Sundara's statement that he was threatened by BJP workers to withdraw the nomination, they said.

Meanwhile, Sundara told television channels that a day after he filed nomination papers, the BJP workers reached his house and threatened him to withdraw his candidature.

"A day after I filed the nomination papers, the BJP workers came to my place and asked me to withdraw the nomination. They gave me the amount in cash," he said.

Besides withdrawing the candidature, Sundara had joined the BJP.

Manjeswaram was one among the A-Plus constituencies for BJP in Kerala where the party pinned hopes of winning the elections to the state Assembly.

The BJP has since denied all the allegations.

CPI(M) candidate V V Rameshan, who came third in the 2021 election with 40,639 vote, had, on Saturday, approached the Kasaragod district police chief seeking to register a case into the matters related to the revelation.

IUML's A K M Ashraf won the seat with 65,758 votes while Surendran managed to bag 65,013 votes.

Earlier, an allegation had surfaced that Kerala BJP President K Surendran gave Rs 10 lakh to popular tribal leader CK Janu to come back to the NDA's fold. The state treasurer of Janu's party-Janadhipathya Rashtriya Party (JRP)- Praseetha Azhikode alleged that K Surendran gave Rs 10 lakh to CK Janu to join back the NDA.

CK Janu had returned to NDA after a gap of two years on March 7, 2020 and was welcomed back into the fold at the concluding function of the BJP's Vijya Yatra in Thiruvananthapuram, in which Home Minister Amit Shah took part.

Praseetha also released an audio clip of a conversation that she purportedly had with Surendran, days before Amit Shah's visit, in which they discussed paying CK Janu Rs 10 lakh. In the voice clip, the male voice, which Parseetha claims is that of Surendran, agrees to give money to Janu.

While Praseetha has stood firm on her allegation, both Surendran and Janu have denied it.